Ravenshaw.EDU

Saswat_Sahoo · Joined: 07 Jun 2006 Posts: 15 Location: Mumbai

Hi friends,

This is for all those who are of the creative sort, the dreamers, who love to create things, be on a piece of paper (like sketching, painting,photgraphing) or with clay (like sculpting) or with a computer (writing codes, making graphics) or for that matter, any medium. This is for all those who looked in wonder at the cool effects in X-Men III, Jurassic Park, Narnia and felt the urge to create something like that.

Welcome to the world of film animation - a world where reality meets imagination, where dinosaurs walk across silver screens. This is a world of special effects, unbelievable graphics and exotic technologies that mesh and converge to create unbelievable real and virtual experiences. It's a world that beckons creative minds to unleash their power; and it's calling you!

IF you are creative, innovative, artistic and appreciative of art, you can choose a career in animation. With international companies such as Walt Disney, Warner Brothers and Fun Bag Animation looking at India for sourcing content as well as doing projects in collaboration with the Indian animation companies, there has been a growing demand for animators in the country. This field has not so far been exploited though it has a great potential and career wise it is quite lucrative.

There are only 3,000 animators in the country, whereas the actual demand is more than 20,000 animators. This shows that animation has a great potential in the country. Crest Communications was the only industry, which was recruiting people at a time when the entire world was downsizing its manpower. The vacancies are still available, but the right type of animators are not available in the country.

It is surprising that awareness about the prospects of animation, as a career is not very high in the country.

Animation is the art of conceiving an action by drawing inanimate objects or characters, which are made suitable for filming. It has lately become so high paying a profession that it will soon be matching the pay packets of software professionals. Television channels are applying animation techniques as a relief from ho-hum viewing. According to a study by Andersen Consulting, India's animation industry (domestic and exports) will touch USD 2 billion and create employment for around three lakh professionals, including content developers and animators, by 2008.

The Indian animation market, fairly "static" until a few years ago, is suddenly waking up to a host of global opportunities that promise a lot of "action" for the country's leading design specialists. North American film and television programme producers (that boast worldwide networks) are finding it viable to sub- contract animation production activities to independent studios overseas. The demand for animation production services from international animation studios is thus spurred in large part due to India's lower costs of animation production and technical manpower to meet 2-D and 3-D animation requirements.

The requirement of the burgeoning Indian television segment for animation and special effects- related work is also giving a fillip to this segment. Recognising this potential, a number of Indian software players have turned their attention to animation. Animation studios now dot the country and the industry is also witnessing the arrival of training houses that are dedicated to building skilled manpower for this market. Indian cities such as Mumbai (which houses India's movie industry), Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Thiruvananthapuram house some of the country's leading animation houses. Companies such as Crest Communications, Films Division, Maya Entertainment, Silverton Studio, UTV Toons, Zee Institute of Creative Arts (ZICA), 2NZ Studios, Prasad Studios, Acropetal, jadooWorks, Color Chips, Toonz Animation, Heart Animation, etc. are just a few of the ventures that have dedicated themselves to the world of animation and special effects.

Saswat ( I'lll continue posting relevant matter on this topic in installments. Plz give your gueries and feedback freely )